ASL, Easy as 1,2,3
by Detective Rysposito
Summary: Written for the 2014 Rysposito Secret Santa Fic Exchange- Javier and Kevin can't decide who would be able to sign better...so they join a club to solve their argument.


**This is terribly late and I am very very sorry about that! I had to write three fics for the fic exchange(don't ask) and I had a personal issue that I am trying to fight through so please forgive me for the lateness.**

**If you don't want to read the smut, that's okay, just stop where Ryan says, Thank you, princess**

**wooohoo, first rysposito fic of 2015 party**

**(this is the smut free version- read the original here archiveofourown . org ****/works/3094568)**

* * *

"What makes you think that you're the best? I thought you love my massages." Javier challenged putting down the knife he was using too cut up onions and face his boyfriend's back as he cut the carrots.

Kevin didn't even falter his quick chopping to answer, "So what? Have you seen me play the piano?"

_Damn_, Javier thought, _he had him there_, but he wasn't giving in that easily, "And?" Shut up, like you'd have a better response.

"Next time I play, keep an eye on how fast my fingers move and the accuracy." Javier held back a groan because there was no way he would watch Kevin's hands when he could stare at his face as he was in the midst of playing a song. He usually had his eyes relaxed shut, but a small tip of his tongue tended to peek through lips that were already red from him biting his bottom lip as well. It was a beautiful sight.

"Fine, if my massages suck then I won't give you any anymore." Javier shrugged his shoulders with a fake frown because he loved watching Kevin get all worked up.

At the sound of this, Kevin finally paused their dinner preparations to face his partner, "What? I didn't say that I didn't like your back massages, Javi."

"Then what did you say, _Kevin_?" Javier asked with a smirk.

"There's a difference between excelling in back rubs and excelling in American Sign Language." Kevin did that cute thing that Javi loves with his eyebrows where they furrowed slightly in confusion.

"I could be fluent in Sign Language if I really wanted to, I'll have you know." Javier crossed his arms over his chest with a mock pout.

"The closest thing to signing you can do is flip off Mr. Darren when he takes our parking space-and that's not even sign language." Kevin smiled as he turned back to his vegetables.

Javier scoffed, "What are you, dictator of the signs?"

"Only because we both know I'd be the better signer." Kevin said absolutely with a smile that Javier couldn't see.

Javier huffed and pulled Kevin into a backwards hug with a small kiss to the hair above his boyfriend's ear. "Is that a challenge I hear, cutie?"

Kevin rolled his eyes at the nickname, "Why does it have to be a challenge, you'd save more dignity if you just gave in right now."

Javier spun his boyfriend around to face him with raised eyebrows, "Oh, you are _so _on, leprechaun." He laughed at Kevin's narrowed eyes, "The library has a class starting up this week, we'll both take it and whoever scores higher on the test at the end wins."

Kevin nodded, "Uh-huh, wins what exactly?"

Javier bit his lip, every time they usually made bets the winner won a full body massage, but even if Javi won the bet he'd end up giving Kevin the massage because he really couldn't say no to him. "The satisfaction of knowing you're better than the other."

"Nope," Kevin shook his head, but Javi didn't really expect anything else because Javier might always be the instigator, but Kevin always makes sure the prize is worth his while "winner gets to pick dinner for a whole month."

Javier laughed, "You're on, Corazon. I hope you love chocolate cake because we're going to be having a lot of it for dinner soon."

"That's what you think," Kevin smiled and tossed a chopped carrot at Javier's head only to watch it bounce to the floor. "You're gonna pick that up, babe. Just so you know."

Javier rolled his eyes, he wasn't going to pick that up; Kevin threw it (shut up, okay? He could at least pretend he wasn't wrapped around his boyfriend's finger), "You worry about trying to figure out how to possibly beat me and I'll worry about cleaning up after your messy ass."

"Why should I clean it up, if you make it a mess in the first place."

Javier sputtered because he would never get used to how _completely inappropriate _his boyfriend could be. Really, he could be as innocent as a toddler one minute talking about puppies and ice cream (not really, it's just an example, sheesh) and then the next minute he's saying shit that could make a pornstar blush. Would it be wrong for Javier to say he found it completely adorable?

When Kevin stuck his tongue out at Javier and tossed another carrot, Javier laughed and pulled him into an unexpected kiss. Kevin pulled away first, but rested his forehead against his boyfriend's, "You better sign as well as you can kiss or else I think you're going to get sick of honey milk with dinner real fast."

* * *

It was about six weeks later when Castle started to sense something was up with the boys. He noticed both Ryan and Esposito slipping into their jackets at the end of the shift and ran over to them to catch them before they left, "Are you two coming to movie night tonight?"

The boys exchanged a look before Ryan answered, "Sorry, we can't tonight, Castle." And before Castle could question them, they were in the elevator descending to the first floor.

Castle frowned and walked back to Beckett, "They're up to something. They have declined the past six movie nights because they're too busy running off somewhere secret."

Beckett barely looked up from the last of her paper work, "Why don't you just change movie nights to Saturday if they're busy on Fridays, Castle."

Castle huffed taking a seat next to his wife, "But, Vincent's only has the three for two pizzas special on _Friday."_

Beckett stole a quick glance at Castle, "I'm sure your wallet can afford an extra pizza."

Castle rolled his eyes as if insulted, "You know the boys are always nagging me to let them pay for our outings and adventures," Beckett rolled her eyes because usually their 'adventures' were paintballing and midnight movies, "and New York pizza doesn't come cheap."

"Just order the two pies then, you three all but waste the third one usually, anyway."

Castle sighed, "_First of all_, that pizza fight was _not_ a waste and _second of all_, it's not the pizza that's bugging me. It's the not knowing where they scamper off to that kills me."

Beckett leaned back in her chair with a smile, "Oh, so Richard Castle is upset that his little boys are all grown up and having fun without him."

"Maybe they're apart of some robot fight club..." He ignored Beckett's comment and begin to try and figure out where Ryan and Esposito went on Friday nights. He laughed and snapped his fingers, "What if they're going to some underground gay dance club. Or they've developed this weird belief that the sex on Friday," He checked his clock, "at around eight thirty creates the best orgasms."

Beckett's nose scrunched up, "Castle, do you even _hear_ the words coming out of your mouth?"

Castle nodded seriously and took Beckett's hand in his, "If you want, we can test out that second theory."

Beckett slapped his hand lightly, "If you weren't just talking about Ryan and Esposito in the same context, I might have been a little more eager." She gave him a look, "Besides..._underground gay dance club_? What does that even mean?"

"It means that Ryan and Esposito are up to something, could be dangerous, _extremely dangerous_ and as a concerned friend I must figure out what they're doing and make sure they're okay." Castle saw the look Beckett was giving him and shrugged his shoulders, "What?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, "Castle, just stay out of their business. _Please_." She was practically begging him.

Castle smiled and shook his head, "Nope," Before leaving a feather light kiss on Beckett's nose.

* * *

Kevin and Javier watched with rapt attention as their teacher signed that night's lesson aim. She stood in front of the room in the back of the library and allowed her hands to do the talking as their swiftly morphed into different shapes to form a beautiful language.

_Today, is the second part of our time unit. _she signed, _Tonight we will start to learn some basic signs like daily, monthly, weekly and so on to express when and/or how often you do something._

From the corner of his eye, Javier could see how Kevin's baby blue eyes followed every movement of their teacher's hands and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel just a bit jealous for her to be getting _his boyfriend's _attention. He was pathetic, really.

Kevin must have noticed his staring and turned to look at his boyfriend in confusion. He mouthed "What's wrong?" but Javier just shook his head with a slight huff and turned back to the front of the classroom just in time to see their teacher sending them off with their partners to practice the new signs…

Wait, he missed her showing them the signs? _Had he been staring at Kevin that long? _It didn't surprise him though, it wouldn't be the first time he got lost in his beautiful blue eyes. But there was a time and place for it and in the middle of ASL class when he was trying to kick said lover's ass, he couldn't afford any setbacks.

He turned to his boyfriend and got a faceful of one of his smug little shit faced grins, that Javier thought were hot as hell when used against anyone except him. He brought up his hands to sign, _You watch me, not teacher? _If Kevin said that in English, he'd sound ridiculous, but they were just starting to learn American Sign Language and didn't know an abundant amount of signs. Just like their teacher instructed, they explained words they couldn't sign with signs they did know; they never just simply finger spelled something, And putting besides the sentence that sounded like a first grader talking, his signing was absolutely flawless. His fingers morphed along with his hands at the all the right places even though Kevin didn't even look like he was trying to perfect his signing; he was a natural.

Javier? Not so much. His signing was much more clumsy and he stumbled here or there trying to find the right word to sign, often. _Ha, ha, _He did spell that to emphasize the sarcasm on his face, _shut up and sign_

Kevin's eyes crinkled up as he held back a laugh, not wanting everyone else in the room's attention on them and signed, _This is everyday, _he made a fist with his thumb sticking out and dragged it against his jaw quickly, Javier nodded and copied the sign. Kevin smiled and signed again, _I'll make a sentence first, _he closed his eyes briefly to think of a sentence and smiled mischievously before signing, _I want to make love with you daily._

It took a moment for Javier to understand what he was saying because he used the sign for make as in "build" and love as in the verb, but he still got his point across. Javier gave a wolfish grin before signing in return, _Babe, I need, _he puffed his cheeks as he signed need for emphasize, _it daily._

Javier had forgotten though that you're supposed to drag your first for 'everyday' and instead tapped it against his jaw. Unfortunately, that was also the moment that their teacher decided to stroll by and check up on Kevin and Javier's progress. He really hoped she hadn't caught their conversation, or more rather the sentence that Javier was only responding to.

She placed a gentle hand on Javier's shoulder and rapped her knuckles against the desk to gain everyone's attention and once she had the class' eyes on her she spoke, "I know I usually prefer a 'voice-off' environment, but Javier has just pointed out something that I must explain in English." _Oh great, everyone's eyes were on him now. _"When you're signing, you must be extremely careful about how you sign something because you could want to sign one thing, but actually sign something completely different.

"For example, Kevin and Javier, now I only caught the last of their conversation, but assumedly Kevin told Javier that he wanted something daily and Javier responded that he _needed_ it daily," She looked down at Javier and praised him, "Great manual markers by the way,' Before continuing, "Please sign your response, Javier." Thank God she didn't start with Kevin's sentence and by the look of relief on Kevin;s face, he was thinking the same thing.

"Sure," Javier mumbled before he signed again, _I need it daily. _He ignored Kevin's suggestive wink as he signed _Me too _discretely in his lap.

Their teacher's next words though brought Kevin and Javier out of their silent conversation, "By mixing up his signs, Javier just signed that he needs his menstrual cycle."

Javier's eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'o' as Kevin stifled his laughs. The rest of the men in the class also seemed to get a kick out this as well, but their teacher ignored their teasings and explained, "'Everyday' has the motion of dragging against your jaw like this," She signed the correct way and said, "But, what Javier was singing, was just how you sign period, so unless you need your period, I suggest you drag instead of tap."

Javier thanked her under his breath as she walked away leaving some men near by still snickering at him, but Javier brushed them off as Kevin rubbed his leg sympathetically and signed, _It's okay, beautiful, I'll always love you and when you're PMSing. _He had to spell that last one.

Javier made a bitch face and sarcastically signed, _funny_ causing Kevin to smile even more. Not that Javier was complaining.

The rest of the night went just as it did every class; the teacher teaches them a new sign, Kevin masters it in the first go while Javier continues to stumble because he's too mesmerized by Kevin's hands as he signs (and he may just have a new fetish) to even work on his skills. And before Javier knows it, it's 9:45 and class is wrapping up for the night and Kevin and Javier are exiting the library into the chilly New York night.

"You want to grab a quick bite to eat? We don't have to be in work until later in the day tomorrow." Javier looked down at Kevin who was holding onto his arm, snuggling close as they walked down the sidewalk to their favorite 24/7 dinner. Sure, it wasn't the most romantic place to eat by a long shot, but they had been eating there ever since they were first partners.

"I'd love that."Kevin smiled, his nose crinkling up cutely as he lifted his head off Javier's shoulder. Javier found himself smiling just by looking at his boyfriend's grin and lowered his head slowly to drop a small kiss to his nose.

* * *

The next evening, Kevin and Javier found themselves sitting at their respective desks attempting to wrap up their case without hitting another dead end.

Kacey Wright ran a small orphanage on 34th street, but was found dead on her bedroom floor that morning from a blow to her head. The scene was messy and rushed; bleached some areas but it was still obvious that she had been murdered. The only prints and such found were from several different children at the orphanage.

Each child was interviewed that could been seen as a suspect, but they all seemed to have an alibi; each other. Of course they'd stick together; they were a family and did their best to keep everyone out of suspicion.

Each child brought in made sure to bring up the possibility of her mysterious boyfriend being the one that committed the the end, her boyfriend, Brett Aders, had an air tight alibi of being in jury duty at the time of murder (cue Castle's comments about jury duty actually being useful for once).

Although, none of the team wanted to believe that a child (more likely a teenager) would be responsible for their guardian's death, but there was no other plausible reasoning. Now was just trying to figure out who did it and why.

Kevin was in the midst of thoroughly checking one of the teenager's cell phone record when Castle plopped himself in the seat next to him that was there for his boyfriend. Kevin looked up, not that surprised to see the writer sitting besides him because he often found Castle to talk about ridiculously impossible theories, Castle's books (Kevin _loved _to hear about Castle's ideas for the upcoming Nikki Heat novels, especially what he planned for Roach and Castle loved to hear Kevin's thoughts after he read the drafts) or even to just chat. But unlike usual times when castle sat down in this seat, he was silent with a smug smile staring at the Irishman.

"Can I help you, Castle?" Kevin asked lifting his head up from the computer and Javier noticed the writer's odd behavior and looked up as well.

Castle finally spoke after a moment of uneasy silence, "So, Ryan, how was last night?"

"Uh, good, Castle...how was your night…?" Kevin asked hesitantly exchanging a look with Javier, the Latino in return simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Poker night was good, I have left over pizza since you two decided to bail on me yet again." He sighed dramatically slumping his shoulders. He was Martha's son alright.

"Are you still upset, Castle?" Kevin frowned, "I'm sorry, man, don't worry in a month or so we'll be back to poker night." He said sincerely.

Castle smiled, "It's okay, buddy, as long as you had fun dancing." Beckett came by and smacked him lightly upside the head telling him to drop it, but his smirk never left his face.

"Why do I feel like you two know something we don't?" Javier asked putting his pen down and narrowing his eyes at the writer because over protective boyfriend was kicking in.

Castle opened his mouth to respond when a woman cleared her throat softly, "Excuse me, are you Detective beckett's team?" A little girl, no more than seven, was standing at her side hiding behind the woman's legs.

Castle smiled down at the girl with a small wave, but she only blushed and turned herself backwards. Castle chuckled at her shyness and turned to see Beckett approaching the woman with a smile. "I'm Detective Beckett, is there something I can help you with?"

The woman nodded, "My name is Catherine and this is Rose," She urged the young girl forward. "She was one of the children that lived in Ms. Wright's orphanage."

Castle smiled, his inner paternal instincts kicking in, "Hello, Rose, that's a beautiful name."

Rose didn't responded to Castle's greeting other than stare at his lips in concentration. Catherine sighed softly rubbing the toddler's back, "I'm afraid she cannot hear you, Detective," She addressed Castle not knowing he wasn't officially apart of the NYPD.

"She's deaf," Kevin stated the obvious looking down at the girl. He made eye contact with the girl and waved shortly with a smile. She waved back with a matching smile.

Catherine nodded with a frown, "And unfortunately, her interpreter was Ms. Wright, she had known Rose since she was a baby. As far as she knows, it was her mother killed. She has been pestering social services about coming, she wouldn't tell them anything until yesterday she drew this," She pulled out a picture of a yellow oval with NYPD written in a child's handwriting, "She must have something to say, but she will only speak with a Police Officer, assumedly about the murder."

Beckett nodded in understanding, "I wish I could sign with her, I unfortunately never got around to learning the language, but Officer Dezmond can. He usually translates, but I just hope he's around the precinct right now." When Beckett went to look around the bullpen, her Irish partner caught her attention on the floor in front of the toddler.

Kevin was in his own world with Rose, both immersed in their conversation of signing. Castle laughed lightly, "Since when does Ry know how to sign?"

Javier smiled, proud of his boyfriend, "You think we were leaving you hanging every Friday for shits and giggles? We had a bet over who'd be the better signer, Kev or me. There's a class in the library." He explained.

"Ohhh," Castle said, now understanding where they were running off to (he'll admit he was kind of disappointed to find it wasn't something scandalous like an intense underground gay dance club or something like that).

They all turned to watch the rest of their conversation even if they weren't really sure of what they were saying.

Kevin kneeled in front of the little girl once he had her attention, _Hello, Rose. My name is Kevin. _He spelled his name slowly as she watched, but she didn't need it slow and instantly smiled when she realized she could have a conversation with someone without the need to read lips.

Kevin smiled when he saw her sign, _Hello, Kevin. _But instead of spelling his name, she signed 'blue' (the hand shape of 'B' bouncing up and down), but instead of a 'B' she used the 'K' sign instead. He recognized this as Rose giving him a name sign, a sign that a deaf person usually gave to people to address them by instead of spelling out their name each time and using distinctive traits about the person to morph with the first letter of their name.

_I don't know a lot of signs. I started learning 6 weeks ago. I'm sorry. _Kevin frowned and hoped he'd be able to understand her.

She smiled and lifted her small hands to continue signing, _You're okay, I'll slow down if you need help. _She waited for him to nod before she continued and told him what happened the night her foster mother was murdered. There was a word here or there he didn't understand, but he understood the story overall.

One of the older children, Josh, had been upset with Catherine (Rose was too young to understand what was going on, but by the way she described it, it seemed as he was in the midst of a high and Catherine was reprimanding him for his behavior.) and he let his anger. Unfortunately he pushed her around too much and she smacked her head on the corner of dresser just hard enough to knock her out. Josh panicked and left her there, and by the morning she had bled out.

Kevin's eyes softened as he watched this little girl sign her recall of these tragic events and her small body shaking as hiccuped sobs escaped her and tears trailed down her cheeks. _I was hiding behind the bed...I should have stopped him but I was scared. I'm sorry, Kevin. And he said he'd hurt me if I told, he dragged me out and locked the door. _She paused her signing to lift up the sleeve of her dress where there was an angry hand print shaped bruise.

Kevin's eyes widened and signed, _Josh?!_

She nodded her head softly, but when she began to sign her hands were moving much more furiously than before. _I should have helped her, Kevin! I could've helped her. But she's gone now...no one treated me like an actual friend except her. I miss her._

Kevin shook his head, _It's not your fault, Rose. Josh is bad, not you. _He paused and smiled softly, _And I'll be your friend._

Rose smiled at that and threw herself into Kevin's arm before giving him a kiss on the cheek. She brought her hand to her chin and extended it downwards to sign _Thank you. _

Kevin held her tight and returned the sign, _You're welcome, princess._

* * *

**I chose ASL as the club because it's honestly the most beautiful language. I've been taken it since freshman year and it's just so much fun and I really wanted to incorporate my passion for ASl with this.**

**That whole period thing with Javi is true, poor sap in my class got called out on it in class just like poor JaviXD**

**When Rose gave Kevin a name sign, that is something that a person of the Deaf Community only can give to people based off their personalty, looks, or interests. And to make it more personal, they'll use the first letter of your name to morph with the sign.**


End file.
